This invention relates generally to avionics systems onboard aircraft and more particularly to a digital computer driven system for controlling and operating a complex, modular avionics system.
Large military aircraft such as the Navy's E2-C or P3-C usually require many radio transmitter/receivers (transceivers) operating in different frequency bands. Each radio transceiver is typically used for one or possibly two functions such as UHF frequency shift keyed data reception/transmission, UHF AM voice transmission/reception, high frequency (HF) single side band voice transmission/reception, or HF digital data reception/transmission. Most of the radio gear is special purpose and each set requires one-of-a-kind packaging, control boxes, electrical interfaces, and antennas. In complex equipment configurations, integration of new equipment is often difficult and costly due to lack of compatability.
As military threats to communication, navigation, and identification (CNI) systems increase in capability, newer, more sophisticated systems must be built in order to ensure successful missions. These new systems require new CNI equipment having new modes of operation. However, an aircraft outfitted with the new equipment would still be required to perform old functions since all of the fleet could not make the transition to the new system simultaneously. It is very difficult, therefore, to introduce new functional capability since all the new equipment and the old equipment cannot fit within the weight and space budgets of the aircraft in question.
Older, specialized mission aircraft having special purpose CNI functions are being replaced by multi-mission aircraft having a mix of old and new CNI functions. The multi-mission aircraft concept requires modular, multi-purpose avionics with sufficient capability to handle the needs of the various missions. These future avionics systems must be capable of simple and rapid reconfiguration. Implicit in the requirements for such an avionics system are such criteria as minimal manual interaction, adaptability to changing avionics hardware, and flexibility for expansion or contraction of the avionics systems.